Dear MLK, Racial Discrimination Still Exists

Last week, students across the nation discussed what Martin Luther King Jr. would think of society today in our #DoNowMLK post. We asked students If Martin Luther King walked through your community today, do you think he’d be satisfied with the way things are? What specific things would he be happy or dissatisfied with?

Martin Luther King Jr. fought for racial and economic equality, dreaming of a more integrated world. These goals were at the forefront in the March on Washington where King and other leaders advocated for a just society. While progress has been made in the past fifty years, a number of King’s demands have not been accomplished.

Throughout the week, students pointed to specific accomplishments and failures that King would notice in America. Most agreed that while he would be happy with the progress we have made, MLK would be disappointed with the levels of discrimination that still exists.

He Would Be Satisfied

Some students argued that King would be happy with how much America has accomplished since the 1960s.

Besides the flood of responses on Twitter, we received more than 400 insightful comments in response to the #DoNowMLK post. Some students from a school in Texas supported their opinions with graphs, pie charts, and news related articles to demonstrate ways Martin Luther King Jr.’s dreams have been achieved or not today.

Here’s is a comment by CarlosR that argues a racial gap in household income and education.

Here is another comment by IsabellaV, showing a graph that also illustrates racial inequality in wealth and economics.

Laura Robledo studied English at UC Berkeley. When she is not reading, looking up new music, or running half marathons, she loves to explore the beautiful city of San Francisco.

Alyssia

We feel like MLK would be happy with all the improvement that was made but he would still disapprove with the continuous stereotyping based on race. He would also be disappointed with the violence that still takes place today.

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